It's a niece!

Hal writes:

My brother Jay called to say that he and his wife (well, mostly his wife) had a baby girl this evening. Daisy was born early this evening and all is well for mother, child, and father. My hope is to possibly go see my new niece this weekend and have some pictures next week. For those of you in to the stats of newborns, this one came in a little over 7 pounds and about 19 inches long.

Thank you for your suggestions for naming our fish. We still are waiting on a couple people to get back to us, but in the mean time "little fish" (as we are calling him until he gets a name) is continuing to enjoy his home on top of the wine rack.

I was the on call this weekend and I have never had so many phone calls during an on-call weekend. Nothing major, but it's not easy to get a good night's sleep when the phone rings throughout the night. At least there wasn't anything that I had to leave the hall for in the middle of the night, all the situations that happened in the other halls were taken care of without me having to leave my hall.

Tonight begins Homecoming week at UWP. The first two events were the Banner display and the Kickball competition. Pictured below are some members of my hall's team just shortly after they beat another hall in the co-ed division. Our homecoming t-shirts have the "too much rock for one hand" display on the front, thus the hand signs that are being flashed below.

Go Southwest Hall!

Sesquicentennial post

Hal writes:

150 posts! Hooray!

This past weekend Anna completed the Fox City half-marathon. Official time has not come in yet, but she finished well under two hours. We don't have any pictures of her running, but she may have bruised the back of her leg with a muscle tear, so we might take a picture of that. ;)

I would like you to meet my fish. Anna bought him for me last week. I tried naming him Archimedes, thinking that I would have a smart, academic fish; but Anna would have none of it. I would appreciated any suggestions you have for a name, still looking for something that sounds academic.

My fantasy football team is 3-0. I don't have any "great players", but my players have been consistent. Better start than the Minnesota Vikings...

Weekend at GAC

Hal writes:

This past weekend I was up at GAC to fulfill my alumni Class Agent responsibilities. The purpose is for me to gather news and information about the college and then pass it on to my classmates through newsletters that I write. Typically there are two of us, but the woman who has been working with me the past six years has decided that she will not be able to participate anymore. So, I'll be looking for a new person to assist in the process.

But, part of being back is to visit with former professors and administrators. I spent a majority of the day on Friday catching up with friends and mentors. Although each trip back there are less and less people I know due to career changes and there have been new buildings added in between my visits as well.

My sister took on a job at GAC recently as Assistant Swim Coach. She didn't want me to take her picture at work, but I was able to snap this one quickly before she could stick her tongue out at me.


During my visit to GAC, I stayed in my sister's new apartment. I know that some other people are wondering what it looks like, but I didn't go around taking pictures of everything. I did take one of the fireplace in her apartment because I thought it was neat.

In 2006 when I first move in to Southwest Hall at my school, GAC also opened up a Southwest Hall. Here is the GAC version of SWH:

It was fun to be back on campus and to see people. I enjoyed that there were numerous students with college sweatshirts and t-shirts. There is not as much school pride at my current institution. I also enjoyed attending daily chapel and having the opportunity to wander around campus.

So, funny story. The man who bought the Barry Bonds ball that broke Hank Aaron's record is letting the public vote on what should happen to it. Your options are to send it to the Baseball Hall of Fame, have it branded with an asterisk and then send it to the Hall of Fame, or to have it brought up in a space shuttle and launched in to outer space. Click here to vote for your favorite option.

Sarah McLachlan - World on Fire

Anna Writes:

I thought this video was pretty incredible. You might need to keep your mouse over the pause, or watch it twice to catch it all.

Enjoy!

Anna projects and Dairy Days

Hal writes:

What has Anna been up to? Well, she's been trying to get over the cold that I passed on to her, but there are things more exciting than that. This semester (her last of course work) she only has class Monday-Thursdays and in addition to her 3-day weekends, finds herself with not as much homework. So, as is typical during times of slowness for her, she bakes. Pictured below are some fall cookies (leaf and acorn shapes) that she made for her classmates.

Anna is also near completion on her first quilt. It started out as a lap quilt, but it continued to grow until it was Queen size. The final stage is to get a professional to stitch the back side. Pictured below is me holding the quilt. I'll be curious to hear about my quilt holding techniques from my father who has held up many of my mothers quilts for pictures. I think I got the index finger right, but I might get a few points deduction for my head peaking over the top. And yes, I am smiling in the photo.

This Saturday was an outside day for me. So far today (Sunday) I have managed to enjoy football and do all the laundry. (It's the compromise that I have worked out with Anna, that I get to watch as much football as I want as long as I do all the laundry.) I'll give some fantasy football updates in a later post.

Saturday was first spent going for a run with Anna. While she worked at the coffee shop in the afternoon, I joined RDs Trapper and Coree at the university's football game. Not only was I able to tell my football players I saw them in action, but I can also say the same for the marching band, flag core, and cheerleaders who live in my building.

After the football game we went to Dairy Days. Think county fair in nature, except centered strictly around the dairy aspect. (Down here, county fairs are held in late July or early August, which is different than where I cam from.) The photo below is the "big tent" and the afternoon's entertainment included a hypnotist.

Among the typical fair food, there were some Wisconsin twists. John had a Chedderwurst Corn Dog. Trapper and Coree are pictured below with the favorite of Dairy Days, the Fried Cheese Curds sold by the Optimist Club.

I had a bet that I could name three things that would be found at the flea market: coke memorabilia, bang snaps (those fireworks that you throw and the ground for a pop), and toy nunchucks. I only found two out of three, but since you can sell fireworks in WI all year round, it made sense that bang snaps were not as hot of an item as when I was growing up. There was not an official Dairy Days sign, so I had my photo taken with a poster of Dairy Days.

Later we swung by a historical encampment at the edge of town. These people pitch tents, dress in Civil War era clothing, and camp the weekend. In the group are woodcarvers and other people that have an expertise in a certain craft that are on display.

Happy 10th anniversary.

Hal writes:

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of my college move-in and orientation at GAC. It's easy for me to reflect on this because I continue to go through orientation every year at the different school's that I have attended and worked for. My first day of college consisted of waking up and watching Princess Di's funeral on television before moving into "Co-Ed". Gustie Greeters, square dance, Dive night, opening banquet, purchasing textbooks (the first time I came close to crying that weekend), and other memories.

The past three days I have been busy with orientation and move-in. It should be completed, but I have about 40 residents who have yet to arrive. Since I have all returning students in my building, it would appear that the hours mailed to them and posted on the Internet for checking in don't apply to them. The picture below is of some of my RAs and some of my "Welcome Crew", students who arrive prior to orientation to assist with the move-in process.


There were more than a handful of U-Hauls and other trucks that made their way to my building. If there is one thing that students have a lot of today, it's stuff. I used to laugh about the families that pulled up with the hoarse trailers, but even those appear to be too small for some of my students.

A 57" TV? Why not! (I bet that everyone who reads this blog doesn't own a TV of that size, but one of my students does!)

After the second day of move-in, the Block Party is held outside some of the residence halls. The RDs got together to take a picture of all of us wearing our staff t-shirts. (I like mine the best.)